Melancholy Kaleidescope | PJO

Ch. 13: Lotus

Jinora was beyond relieved to be the first one awake, because there was no way she would ever live it down if Annabeth woke up early enough to see her head on Percy's shoulder.

Absolutely not. No one can know.

Per usual, Percy was the last one up. Grover shook his shoulder as Jinora pushed open a latch on the roof. While the air outside wasn't cool by any means, the air circulation made the heat more bearable.

The the truck came to a stop. The four of them shared nervous looks as the doors to the tractor unit opened and shut.

"They must be coming to check on the animals," Grover said.

"Enough speculating," Annabeth hissed. "Just hide!"

Easy for her to say. She had a hat that could turn her invisible. Jinora, Percy, and Grover had to dive behind feed sacks and hope they looked like turnips, leaving Jinora sandwiched between the two of them.

The trailer doors creaked open, allowing sunlight and fresh, not-stuffy, heat and air to flow in.

"Man," one of the truckers exclaimed as he climbed in. "I wish I hauled appliances."

The guy poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes. He looked at the lion.

"You hot, big boy?"

The man splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face, receiving a roar of indignation in response.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Jinora had to grab Grover by the arm to keep him from revealing their hiding spot. He may have been a peace-loving herbivore, but in that moment he looked downright murderous.

The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

The zebra's eyes widened in fear and looked over at Percy. Jinora wasn't sure what was going through the blond's head, but he just stared at the striped animal in shock.

Three knocks startled the three of them from the side of the trailer. The guy straightened his posture and looked back toward the open doors.

"What do you want, Eddie?"

Eddie shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"

Maurice–apparently–shouted louder, causing Jinora to wince from the volume. "What are you banging for?"

"Banging," Eddie shouted back. "What banging?"

Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being a ridiculously stupid moron. Seconds after Maurice went back outside, Annabeth appeared next to Percy. She must have done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer.

"This transport business can't be legal," she concluded, looking at the miserable state of the animals.

"No kidding," Grover grumbled angrily. He paused, as if listening to something being said. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!"

Percy's head shot back toward the zebra with the same shocked expression. Jinora looked between the animal and waterboy.

"Dude, what's going on with you?"

Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other outside, but it wouldn't be long before one or both of them came back inside to harass the animals again. As Jinora leaned forward to see if they were coming, Percy slashed the locks off the zebra's cage with Riptide. The zebra shot through the cage gate and toward the doors, turning back to Percy and bowing.